The country plans to have 800 megawatts of
wind power by 2020, but pricing remains an issue.

Binh Thuan Wind Power Company said
the Phu Lac plant has 12 turbines with a combined output of 24 megawatts, local
media reported.

The project
costs more than VND1 trillion ($48 million), including a $37 million grant from
German government development bank KfW.

Vietnam is
operating three otherwind power plantsincluding
two in Binh Thuan and another in the Mekong Delta’s Bac Lieu Province.

The
country now depends on thermal and hydropower for almost all of its electricity
demand, while wind power has only contributed 0.3 percent, according to a
report this week from state-owned utility Electricity of Vietnam.

Thermal
power plants make up more than half of the total generation, and among them,
coal-fired plants account for 34 percent.

The country
has been taking steps to develop cleaner and more sustainable energy sources.
It plans to have 800 MW of wind power by 2020, compared to 140 MW as of March
this year, according to a post on the government's website.

Investors
have committed to more than 45wind
powerprojectsto generate more
than 4,800 MW in total, but most of them are still on paper. Binh Thuan alone
has 16.

Various
media reports suggest that investors in general are reluctant todevelop wind power projectsbecause
prices in Vietnam are not high enough to cover the costs.

In Vietnam,
state-owned Electricity of Vietnam, which controls the national grid,
reportedly pays 7.8 U.S. cents or VND1,731 per kilowatt-hour for wind power,
much lower than the rates in China, Japan and the Philippines.

Binh Thuan
Province's Wind Power Association has requested the government to raise prices
to 12 cents in 2017.